A look back at the Giants' 36-7 win against Carolina

There are many reasons why the short-handed Giants blew out the Panthers on a short week on the road. The biggest? They are a good team with a great quarterback.

Tom Coughlin made a point of telling the media about Eli Manning’s “We have playmakers” speech to the offense, delivered at the team hotel before the game. The coach credited Manning with “providing the confidence” for younger players to take advantage of opportunities when they come -- which Ramses Barden and Andre Brown no doubt did in Thursday’s 36-7 win.

Even down Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks and David Diehl, the Giants looked like a team with more answers -- on running the ball, starting fast, pressuring the opposing quarterback. There’s a far different vibe than during their last weekend off following the season-opening loss to the Cowboys, which players and coaches said kept them up at night.

“It’s a little easier to regroup,” a relaxed Coughlin said Friday. “What we have coming, we’re excited about that.”

THE STRONG SIDE

Manning. He picked up where he left off in the fourth quarter of last week’s Buccaneers win. In the first quarter, he hit 10 of 12 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. In the first half, he completed 18 of 24 passes for 192 yards and a TD. He sliced and diced a Panthers defense playing soft coverage early on (more on that below) with impressive efficiency. His completion rates to his top three targets in Thursday’s game: 90 percent to Barden, 85.7 percent to TE Martellus Bennett and 75 percent to Victor Cruz.

Barden. He seemed to be open for most of the night, the Giants early on exploiting off-coverage at the line by CBs Chris Gamble and rookie Josh Norman with slant routes. But Barden’s 138-yard performance was more than that. On a 21-yard catch in the first quarter, he showed the awareness to spin outside and away from Gamble, running upfield for an extra 17 yards. He also adeptly beat press coverage from Norman on one 20-yard catch on a post route in the second quarter, and in the fourth quarter, made a tough 10-yard catch against tighter coverage on a slant route by boxing out Norman with his 6-foot-6 frame. Four of Barden’s catches were for 20 yards or more.

Brown. He was both powerful and patient, a good combination on his 113-yard, two-touchdown night. Brown’s 31-yard run was the Giants’ longest play of the night, in which Brown broke an arm tackle by LB Jon Beason and took advantage of excellent blocks by Bennett and Cruz. His next-longest runs, 16 and 19-yarders in the first quarter showcased his patience. Each time, he took the ball and waited for a hole to open up, then made a decisive cut to squirt through to the Panthers secondary. On the 16-yard run, he followed FB Henry Hynoski, who picked up DE Charles Johnson; next cut to the right into the hole between RG Chris Snee and RT Sean Locklear; and then ran over S Haruki Nakamura for an extra 6 yards. Also, can’t say for certain, but it looked like Brown may have learned from his first, failed attempt to dive over the goal line in the second quarter (he ran it in on the ground on the next down). Brown seemed to time the dive better when he tried in the fourth quarter, and that time it worked, for his second score.

The Giants offensive line. They opened up holes for Brown and have done a very good job keeping Manning upright. The Panthers were credited with just one hit on Manning in the official box score, a 6-yard sack by Frank Alexander given up by Brown, who struggled in pass protection on that play. As noted on the TV broadcast, that play broke a streak of 90 straight drop-backs in which Manning had not been sacked.

Jason Pierre-Paul. The third-year defensive end was tremendous. He took advantage of back-up RT Garry Williams when lined up on that side, twice batting QB Cam Newton’s passes at the line -- and nearly picking off the first. He also was key in suffocating Newton’s unique skill set and read-option tactics. One on designed run for Newton in the first quarter, Pierre-Paul did not give up the edge and dragged him down for no gain. In the fourth quarter, he beat the left tackle and teamed with LB Michael Boley to sack Newton.

Jayron Hosley & Prince Amukamara. Suddenly, the thinned cornerback position seems stronger. Hosley turned in some big plays in his second start: The interception off the right hand of WR Brandon LaFell, using his speed to keep chasing Newton on a third-down blitz and force an off-balance throw, and a nice pass deflection on Newton's throw to LaFell over the middle. The third-round pick seems to have quite the nose for the ball. Amukamara made his teammates grin by showing some fire on his unnecessary roughness penalty. He made Coughlin grin when he made an aggressive play to reach in front of WR Louis Murphy and swat down a pass over the middle.

Michael Boley. Three interceptions in three games. From a linebacker.

Spencer Paysinger’s forced fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half made things even worse for the Panthers. It was a nice play by Paysinger, not just to punch out the ball but also to swing around and recover it.

Panthers secondary. Rivera told NFL Network’s Alex Flanagan at halftime that his defense may have been too heavy-handed in rolling the coverage to Cruz in the first half, while Barden was lighting it up on the other side. But going with that approach is certainly understandable. The soft coverage is what didn’t make sense. Why not test Barden’s ability to beat press coverage all night? The Panthers tried to tighten up later in the game, but much of the damage had already been done. "Our corners could have challenged a little bit more," Rivera said after the game.

BETWEEN THE (WHITE) LINES

Bennett became the first Giants player to record a touchdown catch in each of his first three games with the team. He hauled in a 14-yarder on the opening drive against Carolina, beating S Charles Godfrey up the seam. One play showed that he is still learning what Manning needs: The lone incompletion between the pair on a third down late in the first half. As analyst Mike Mayock pointed out on the NFL Network broadcast, Bennett slowed down on his route instead of running past Beason. Manning looked to be explaining to him afterward what he should have done differently…

CB Corey Webster was this week’s warrior for playing through a broken hand, missing just 10 snaps while getting his hand X-Rayed and a hard cast put on. Coughlin mentioned Friday that Webster has great hands, so he doesn’t think catching the ball would be a problem for him. He did add he isn’t sure if Webster can wrap up an opposing player so well with the hand, but he “still gets them down.” I watched for that as I re-watched the game, and saw a few pretty good examples. In particular, he made a nice, open-field tackle of bruising RB Mike Tolbert (245 pounds) on a 4-yard catch in the fourth quarter, going low and using his shoulders to take him down. The broken hand wasn’t a factor there…

Speaking of good tackles, S Antrel Rolle made a very sure one of TE Greg Olsen on a 5-yard catch, despite being the size mismatch…

Rookie RB David Wilson only played four snaps on offense, according to the official game book. He carried the ball once for a loss of 2 yards and caught one pass for 3 yards. The Giants seem to be sticking to a very narrow slice of plays for Wilson. When Brown was done for the night in the fourth quarter, RB Da’Rel Scott came in…

With Nicks and Domenik Hixon out, second-round pick Rueben Randle worked as the No. 3 receiver, playing 27 snaps on offense. He recorded his first NFL catch, for four yards. He also handled punt return duties, with Hosley the second guy in front of him in two-deep configurations. Jerrel Jernigan, the fourth and final active receiver, barely saw the field on offense, playing just four snaps…

How about the closing speed from 33-year-old, 301-pound Rocky Bernard on a tackle for loss of RB DeAngelo Williams in the third quarter? Pierre-Paul initially hit Williams in the backfield, but as he tried to bounce outside, Bernard chased him down and stopped him 2 yards behind the line…

The Giants had a good rotation going at the DT spot. Linval Joseph played the most, 36 defensive snaps, while Bernard played 25. Marvin Austin, on the field for the first time in his NFL career, played 17 snaps on defense, and Marcus Kuhn played 15...

While we’re counting snaps, S Will Hill played 14 snaps on defense. Stevie Brown played six snaps, one of which yielded his interception.

UNDER REVIEW

We mentioned the 90-play streak without a sack above. That number should have been a lot lower (63). On Manning’s third dropback of the day, Johnson beat Locklear and got to Manning, who tried to throw the ball away. On replays, his knee looked like it was down before he got the pass off. The officials ruled it an incomplete pass.

Amukamara and his teammates may have taken some delight in his 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty, because the second-year player showed some “fire,” but they also thought it should never have been called. Amukamara called it a classic case of the second guy getting caught: Murphy pushed him after the play, but the officials only saw Amukamara push back. It stood in stark comparison to the first quarter scuffle between Webster and Smith, who were locked up on each other and continued tussling well after the whistle was blown, tumbling to the ground. In Amukamara’s words, “Webby and that guy were like rolling in the grass for a lot after the whistle!” It also may have been the play on which Webster broke his hand. He said he’s not sure, but he also didn’t rule it out.

Coughlin said he briefly expressed his concern to Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president for game operations, after Rolle suffered a laceration and contusion to his left knee in a collision with a sideline cameraman in the fourth quarter. Rolle did not return, but is not expected to miss time. "I kind of looked at Ray Anderson, and I said, we’re so concerned about player safety, can’t we do something about this?" Coughlin said. "Can’t we get people away from the sideline enough for a guy going as fast as he was going, flying through the air, that he doesn’t put his knee into a camera?" Rolle was defending a pass to Olsen in the end zone. Olsen ran into one standing cameraman, while Rolle tried to hurdle a second camerman from NFL Films who was seated, hitting his knee squarely on the camera in the process. Cameras need to be on the field, so there's probably not a lot that can be done. Although in this case, it probably didn't help that the camerman was seated.